Superman Unbound – Nerdisthttp://nerdist.com
Fri, 09 Dec 2016 15:15:21 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.6.1A Noble Villain: “Superman Unbound”‘s John Noblehttp://nerdist.com/a-noble-villain-superman-unbounds-john-noble/
http://nerdist.com/a-noble-villain-superman-unbounds-john-noble/#commentsSat, 11 May 2013 21:11:45 +0000http://www.nerdist.com/?p=74683This week, John Noble got to play in a world he’s loved since childhood. The Australian actor, best known for roles in The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King and Fringe, got to fight Big Blue himself as the villain in DC’s Superman: Unbound. Noble brings his very distinct pipes to bear on the eponymous villain from Geoff Johns’ “Brainiac” storyline in Action Comics. We caught up with John about all things Brainiac, transitioning between live-action and voice work, and whether or not all those Star Wars and Doctor Who rumors are true.

Growing up in the Australian countryside, John Noble didn’t have access to a TV. As he tells us, his connection to Superman came about when he couldn’t get any other form of entertainment. “When I was a little boy growing up in the country, we didn’t have television or anything, in fact, television wasn’t in Australia. But I was able to get hold of certain comic books and the two that I loved most were Superman, the quintessential superhero, in my opinion, and I also loved the Phantom. They were the two I would read all the time. We’d listen to him on the radio as well. We listened to radio a lot. As kids we’d come home from school and there’d be Superman on. So we’d listen to that and become very involved. Therefore, it was quite an important part of my upbringing as a young fella. Everyday, we’d be tuned in and listen to The Adventures of Superman.”

Throughout the years, Brainiac has had many incarnations in the comics and television, from the live action James Marsters iteration on Smallville to the heroic Brainiac 5 of the Legion of Superheroes, and there’s nothing more confusing to a new Superman fan than someone trying to explain Brainiac’s backstory. With Superman: Unbound, Noble puts a voice to what could be the definitive Brainiac, a version he hopes to revisit. “The writers and the director wanted that to happen. They wanted to define Brainiac, finally. That was the intention when they brought me in. I think what we did was come up with a version that does have longevity, that can be interesting enough to revisit, so, yeah, I suspect that will be revisited. I hope so.”

John continued, turning the conversation to the human element he wanted to bring to Brainiac, “Look, one of the things I wouldn’t have been keen to do is an animated cliche. I approach everything as if it’s a human being with all the flaws and so forth of a human being. It was there in the script. The script allowed me to do that. So I had these options, and Andrea was such a brilliant director; She was working with me and guiding me and molding what I was doing. We both agreed that it was interesting to have him with those human vulnerabilities, which became quite evident at the end of the show. It made it far more interesting.”

To that note, John elaborated on how he made the character almost sympathetic in the climactic battle with Superman. “Playing any character, no matter how evil, I would always try and find it. Vulnerability is what makes us sympathetic, and he was very vulnerable at the end of that. Superman had him by the short and curlies, you know. He had him. Even when you might think someone is a terrible villain, to see them reduced in that way is kind of sympathetic. I was certainly playing for that using the script and Andrea encouraged me to do that. I certainly want to work with Andrea Romano at Warner Brothers again, and that will happen.”

How critical is Andrea Romano to the recipe of success these films have? Well, we know we love what she’s able to get out of the talent she recruits, but for John, she was one of the biggest draws. “Her reputation is huge. She’s the best in the business and I knew that. She’s also just a terrific lady, a terrific lady, and we also got on really well as people. We seem to share a common enthusiasm and certain intellectual vigors that I enjoy. I was more than happy to hand over to her and trust her completely on what she said works. I didn’t doubt her for a minute.”

Like most actors who understand the value of voice-over work, Noble is just as serious about his efforts in the studio as he is when he’s being filmed for live-action. “Two things, one – I’ve always been a working actor. I would use my skills wherever someone would employ them. That’s just a reality of being a working actor, but also, it’s a skill set I’ve really enjoyed developing, because there is a skill set involved in recording studio [work]. Over the years, I started doing radio drama back in the seventies before radio drama died out, so it was kind of a surprise to me to want to come back into all that as I hadn’t done much for a number of years. When I went to L.A. in the early ’90’s, I was approached by a voice agent and unlike film, (it) is something you can keep doing forever, you know, as long as your voice holds out. It means you don’t have to go to locations for three months. You go into a sound studio and work crazily hard for a few hours and create whatever magic you can. I’ve done about three projects since Superman and I love it, man.”

As we wrapped up our conversation, talk turned to roles fans have wanted John to play. We asked him how it felt to be on so many fans’ shortlists to get involved in Doctor Who. “I’ve heard them,” he said. “There’s a lot of rumors spread around the place. There was the other rumor that I’m going to be in the Star Wars movie playing a villain. These things get around whether they’re created in the imagination of fans, I don’t know. Doctor Who‘s been around for fifty years. Isn’t that amazing? If there was something there and they approached me about it, I think it would be interesting to go. It’s a bit like playing a character in Superman. When you do something that’s so iconic, it would be just an honor to go and do something on that show, simply because it is, as I said, fifty years old and still amazing audiences. People adore it. I went to a fan conference in Los Angeles and it was amazing. If they did offer it to me, mate, I would certainly take it seriously and be very honored. I don’t know if I’d want to dedicate my life to doing another series, but I’d certainly be interested in doing something. There’s a lovely cross-globalization if you did that. It’s a bit like us having Leonard Nimoy and Christopher Lloyd on Fringe. A real extraordinary thing, those legends working with us.”

Based on the wildly popular series of hard boiled crime books by Lee Child, Jack Reacher is a very intelligent detective story masquerading as an action movie. Written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie, the film concerns a former military policeman who has gone entirely off the grid (no possessions save a passport and travel toothbrush) who suddenly arrives back on the grid when a disgraced army sniper is accused of sniping five innocent people in Pittsburgh. Reacher does not like this guy and is sure he’s guilty, until the evidence that the man was set up becomes all too overwhelming and a conspiracy is uncovered.

The film stars Tom Cruise, who does a very good job of portraying the main character, despite his not being nearly the right size as Reacher in the books. He’s got the right intensity and swagger, though. Rosamund Pike, Richard Jenkins, and David Oyelowo give very good performances as well, but the real stand out is German filmmaker and renowned insane person Werner Herzog as the film’s milky-eyed villain. The Blu-ray features an informative commentary by McQuarrie and Cruise, a making-of documentary, a look at the book series and the character of Jack Reacher.

Parts of the film get a little too jingoistic for me, but overall it’s a very good, surprisingly complex movie. Now, I mentioned that it was masquerading as an action movie. There aren’t that many action sequences, but the ones that exist are fantastic. Reacher has a very specific fighting style, and there’s a very awesome car chase through the streets of Pittsburgh. To learn more about the stunts of the film, check out my report and interview with some of the coordinators.

Part of what makes Guillermo del Toro great is that he’s willing to give new filmmakers a chance. He saw a 3-minute short film entitled Mama and gave its makers a chance to expand it into a feature film. Director Andy Muschetti’s full-length Mama is the creepy story of two girls raised in the woods by an overprotective and vengeful spectre who happens to be ridiculously skinny and have hair that flows in weird directions. It stars Jessica Chastain as the girlfriend of the uncle (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) of the girls who is forced to become a mother figure after they are found. The ghost mother is not pleased by this and begins haunting the fledgling family in an attempt to regain her children.

There’s a whole lot of very creepy imagery and some genuine scares. Chastain, as always, is pretty fantastic as she goes from the put-upon girlfriend to a real parental figure. The backstory of the ghost is shown in an innovative and effective way and doesn’t spend too long on it. At 1 hour and 40 minutes, though, there is a bit of padding, especially concerning characters who are ultimately unimportant. If it had been 85-90 minutes, it would have been perfect. Still, it’s an amazing first film from a guy whose career I’ll definitely want to follow. Extras on the disc include a commentary, some behind-the-scenes featurettes, and the original short introduced by del Toro.

Warner Bros. and DC Animation have a reputation of making comic book feature films of the highest quality in terms of voice acting and visual style. Even after making so many, they can still turn out an exceptionally awesome piece of work like Superman: Unbound. Based on Geoff John’s Action Comics arc from 2008, Unbound tells the story of Superman’s battle with Brainiac who, we learn, had shrunken Krypton’s capitol city of Kandor before the planet exploded and is keeping it in a glass jar. What a jerk, right? Helping Supes is his cousin Kara, aka Supergirl, with whom he’s also having some familial issues. Wouldn’t ya know it? Get yourself in the Superman frame of mind before The Man of Steel comes out this summer.

Fringe: The Fifth and Final Season – Speaking of John Noble, the last season of Fox’s sci-fi dimension-skipping detective show comes to Blu-ray and DVD with a bevy of extras to keep you even further intrigued (and/or confused).

The Great Escape – John Sturges’ classic WWII film features a massive cast (including Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, Donald Pleasance, Charles Bronson, and James Coburn) as POWs attempting to pull off a massive escape from a German stalag. It’s great, you guys.

Upstream Color – From Shane Carruth, the writer/director/star of the trippy time travel movie Primer, comes this evocative and emotional journey of two people connected by something larger than they even know. It also includes mind control worms, vibratory hallucinations, and a pig farm. Worth checking out for another indie head-scratcher.

Film School Pick of the WeekBand of Outsiders – French New Wave godfather Jean-Luc Godard’s most accessible film is this crime drama/romantic comedy about two jewelry thieves who get caught up with a pretty girl. Incredibly influential film from the ’60s and gave Quentin Tarantino’s first production company its name. It’s out now on Criterion Blu-ray, and if you’ve never seen it, now would be a perfect time.

]]>“Superman Unbound”‘s Molly Quinnhttp://nerdist.com/superman-unbounds-molly-quinn/
http://nerdist.com/superman-unbounds-molly-quinn/#commentsTue, 07 May 2013 13:00:00 +0000http://www.nerdist.com/?p=74417In Superman: Unbound,out today, Superman needs all the help he can get to take on Brainiac, and back-up is coming in the form of his cousin Kara Zor-El, a/k/a. Supergirl. Based on Geoff Johns’ “Brainiac” storyline from Action Comics, the movie finds Supergirl still fresh to Earth and finding her feet as a superhero. For this iteration of Kara, voice-director Andrea Romano called in a young actress she had worked with on Ben 10, Molly Quinn. You may know her from her day job as Nathan Fillion’s daughter on Castle. We caught up with the actress to talk about Supergirl, her favorite comics and what comic book movie she’d love to be in.

To start things off, Molly said that when she first got offered the part, she wasn’t that familiar with Superman’s cousin or her exploits. “I really didn’t know anything about Supergirl…. Superman was never a comic that I really immersed myself in, so I had to do some research. Luckily, I had enough time to cram it all in before I played her. I read most of the comics that involved Supergirl, because I really wanted to know her beginnings.”

As she began to talk about different iterations of the character, she showed some insight into the young hero. “I think most people lose who she was on Krypton before she got to Earth,” she noted.
“They portray her like she knows everything and she’s already fully Supergirl. For me, it was important to remember who she started out as, because she was a fully formed person back on Krypton. I don’t like her when she’s just like, ‘I have powers and I’m here.'” Molly has since become such a fan of the character at Wondercon, she chose to cosplay as Kara, based on a pinup of the character by J. Scott Campbell.

“I really liked Apocalypse,” Quinn responded when asked for her favorite version of Supergirl. “It was based on the Superman/Batman story that reintroduced her to the comics. Summer Glau was great in it.” Apparently, Molly isn’t as territorial as other Super-voice actors. She even took inspiration from the actresses that have played the role before: “I looked at everything and took the best stuff from all of them and tried to mix it together and put myself in there. We’ve all brought something to the character.”

Asked which comics she actively reads, she rolled off a pretty diverse selection. “I was a big X-Men kid. That was my main book. But now… I like Umbrella Academy. I would love to play The Rumor or The White Violin. I still like Sailor Moon. I just found out there’s a new manga coming out soon. Batgirl is amazing. I would love to be able to do something where I get to be Batgirl.”

Based on her performance as Supergirl, we’re definitely in favor of her getting that chance.

Over the years, a number of talented actors have had the opportunity to portray the Man of Steel. Whether you rally behind Christopher Reeve, George Reeves, or Tom Welling, or are just holding out for The Man of Steel‘s Henry Cavill to save you, the debate over the best live-action Superman is nothing compared to the debates Superman die-hards get into over who is the quintessential voice of Superman. For anyone who counted the days between episodes of Superman:The Animated Series, Tim Daly is probably the Supe-du-jor-el, but the fans who got lassoed in by Justice League Unlimited, George Newbern is the Last Son of Krypton. (Nerdist Note: Newbern is also the voice actor behind Final Fantasy‘s Sephiroth.)

Over the years, the voice casting of Clark Kent has gone back and forth between Daly and Newbern, with a few others mixed in for one off projects. While Newbern may be featured as two Supermen in the recent DC fighting game Injustice: Gods Among Us, Daly has gotten some of the choice jobs for Superman like Superman/Batman: Apocalypse and Justice League: Doom. (Nerdist Note: Daly showed his love for the character on he and his son’s web series The Daly Show. They even let Nathan Fillion get in on the action.)

With Superman Unbound, out Tuesday, the powers that be have chosen someone new to provide the baritone country boy his pipes, though it’s not someone unfamiliar to Superman fans. Matt Bomer may be known more for his role as smooth criminal Neal Caffery in White Collar or for his abs in Magic Mike, but during the period of time Brett Ratner was working up a reboot of Superman, he was known as he who would wear the tights. (Nerdist Note: After Ratner left the project, Bryan Singer did audition Bomer for what would be come Superman Returns.)

In the latest DC animated feature, Andrea Romano had to find an actor who could both lend credence to the tension of the action and has a voice that would be able to convey a very different side of Superman. Unbound, based on Geoff Johns’ “Brainiac” storyline, heavily focuses on the relationships Clark has with Lois Lane and his cousin, Supergirl. Romano found that balance with Matt Bomer. A self-professed Superman fan, Bomer has an enthusiasm for the material that made it almost an inevitability that he would finally get his crack at the character.

“That process was so different,” Bomer said when prodded about finally getting to play Superman after his near-miss casting. “Getting to do that with Brett was its own unique thing and I wasn’t available on the last one they did. When they called me and asked me to do this, I thought, ‘Great!’ It’s one of the most iconic characters you could ever get to play and a character I’ve loved since I was five years old. Of course I’m going to do it. Only being able to access him through your voice was a different experience.”

Getting to be the voice of Superman is not something an actor likes to give up, at least not in the case of Tim Daly. When we talked with him about his role in Justice League: Doom, Daly came clean that he wishes he was the only one. “This is a horrible admission, but I didn’t really realize there were other people voicing Superman out there and I was upset about that. I kinda thought I had a corner on that market. Not to be immodest. I do consider myself the voice of Superman and I’m very proprietary about it. People ask me and I’ll always jump at the chance.” Tim even went so far as to say the idea of someone else voicing Clark Kent has affected his digestive tract, “I get dyspeptic when I know someone else is going to do a version of the cartoon.”

“Oh, wow, I owe him some Pepto Bismol then,” Bomer said with a sheepish grin. “Man, it’s tough. Inevitably, if you’re a fan of the character, you have all those actors who have come before you in the back of your mind. But, ultimately, what you have to deal with is the script and the incarnation of that character you are dealing with for this particular project. In this one, it was very mature, as usually a lot of us play it. Between Brainiac, feeling very paternal towards Supergirl and feeling protective of Lois as well because he’s worried that their relationship is going to endanger her, it was a very weighty version of the character. So, I tried to keep my stuff with Lois pretty light and flirty to counterbalance that. And then I get to say, ‘Welcome to Earth!’ Who doesn’t want to get to say that?”

The actor had no problem admitting he mimicked another actor’s performance when delivering that line. “I think I definitely did it with an exact, Xerox copy of Will Smith a couple times, and they were, like, ‘Okay, Matt, now do yours.'”